Monday, November 14, 2005
All Quiet on the Western Front [3/3]
Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 [3/3 - scroll down for parts 1 +2]
We drove further west along the front line from Amiens to Vimy Ridge (war photos here), probably the highlight of the weekend for me. Here we walked the trenches and up to 1km of the tunnels dug under the trenches.
The tunnels were 10 to 25 meters down and of comfortable size for a single person to walk down. It was 11C in here year round. Above ground we could see that the German and British front lines were within 25 m of eachother, or just a grenades throw away. Most of the front lines were this close together because of the lack of advancements, and the taking over of rival trenches when any advancement was made. Seeing how close together they were for years and years .....
Not too cramped in here. A pile of war time trench warfare crap.
Unexploded shell in wall. Fall asleep at the front and you could get a bomb in the head, ten 10 meters down.
Graffiti on the walls, this one in the room the soldiers gathered before storming across the lines. This carving made long before the Canadian flag took its modern form.
Walking the Vimy Ridge trenches
The Mine crater called Winnipeg (there is also Montreal and Grange)
Shelled field now grown over with trees and grass. Photo taken from German side towards the Canadian side.
Arras, home of the tapestry, for lunch and then drove back to Belgium to visit Ypres. We visited a number of cemeteries through out the weekend, this was one of the largest. Tyne Cot Memorial at Passchendaele though was another monument with 10s of 1000s of names from unfound bodies, it had many actual graves from bodies/parts that were found. This was situated just outside Ypres.
Tyne Cot, overlooking Ypres
Before getting to downtown Ypres we visited Sanctuary Wood and its Hill 62 museum. Another set of preserved trenches, yet much more life-like. Grass has not been allowed to take over the ground, sand bags have not been replaced by cement replicas and the ground of the trenches was exposed mud. The museum itself was just a collection of crap that the local farmers have collected from their fields over the years since reclaiming the land for agricultural use. In the 90's they were still collecting 10 tonnes of war time junk on a yearly basis around here. The museum doubled as a bar.
Hill62 museum: preserved trenches
The zigzag of the front line
Walking through the trenches. Section with a makeshift cover.
Entering a bunker from the trench.
Hill62 museum: collected war waste
The town of Ypres was completely flattened during the war and has since been rebuilt, including the Cloth Hall, the city's town hall. Nothing in this town is older that 85 years old. Much f it was rebuilt to look as it did before the war. This particular building is considered one of the "best" non religious buildings in Europe.
Cloth Hall
Finally at the entrance to the rebuilt old town of Ypres was the Menin Gate. Another monument with names of missing soldiers, this one including the names of members of the British army from India. In 1928, the local fire brigade began a tradition of performing the Last Post every night at 8pm under this monument (listen to the ceremony here - mp3). We saw the 26472nd performance. The gate is on Menin street leading to the town of Menin
Menin Gate (I had trouble getting a decent photo)
The gathering crowd under the Menin Gate for the Last Post. A solemn and appropriate end to this trip through a portion of the history of WW1.
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We drove further west along the front line from Amiens to Vimy Ridge (war photos here), probably the highlight of the weekend for me. Here we walked the trenches and up to 1km of the tunnels dug under the trenches.
The tunnels were 10 to 25 meters down and of comfortable size for a single person to walk down. It was 11C in here year round. Above ground we could see that the German and British front lines were within 25 m of eachother, or just a grenades throw away. Most of the front lines were this close together because of the lack of advancements, and the taking over of rival trenches when any advancement was made. Seeing how close together they were for years and years .....
Not too cramped in here. A pile of war time trench warfare crap.
Unexploded shell in wall. Fall asleep at the front and you could get a bomb in the head, ten 10 meters down.
Graffiti on the walls, this one in the room the soldiers gathered before storming across the lines. This carving made long before the Canadian flag took its modern form.
Walking the Vimy Ridge trenches
The Mine crater called Winnipeg (there is also Montreal and Grange)
Shelled field now grown over with trees and grass. Photo taken from German side towards the Canadian side.
Arras, home of the tapestry, for lunch and then drove back to Belgium to visit Ypres. We visited a number of cemeteries through out the weekend, this was one of the largest. Tyne Cot Memorial at Passchendaele though was another monument with 10s of 1000s of names from unfound bodies, it had many actual graves from bodies/parts that were found. This was situated just outside Ypres.
Tyne Cot, overlooking YpresBefore getting to downtown Ypres we visited Sanctuary Wood and its Hill 62 museum. Another set of preserved trenches, yet much more life-like. Grass has not been allowed to take over the ground, sand bags have not been replaced by cement replicas and the ground of the trenches was exposed mud. The museum itself was just a collection of crap that the local farmers have collected from their fields over the years since reclaiming the land for agricultural use. In the 90's they were still collecting 10 tonnes of war time junk on a yearly basis around here. The museum doubled as a bar.
Hill62 museum: preserved trenchesThe zigzag of the front line
Walking through the trenches. Section with a makeshift cover.
Entering a bunker from the trench.
Hill62 museum: collected war wasteThe town of Ypres was completely flattened during the war and has since been rebuilt, including the Cloth Hall, the city's town hall. Nothing in this town is older that 85 years old. Much f it was rebuilt to look as it did before the war. This particular building is considered one of the "best" non religious buildings in Europe.
Cloth HallFinally at the entrance to the rebuilt old town of Ypres was the Menin Gate. Another monument with names of missing soldiers, this one including the names of members of the British army from India. In 1928, the local fire brigade began a tradition of performing the Last Post every night at 8pm under this monument (listen to the ceremony here - mp3). We saw the 26472nd performance. The gate is on Menin street leading to the town of Menin
Menin Gate (I had trouble getting a decent photo)
The gathering crowd under the Menin Gate for the Last Post. A solemn and appropriate end to this trip through a portion of the history of WW1.# posted by Us : 12:11 p.m.
Hangman
